Q. Which of the following words would you use to describe the Government’s handling of the issue of asylum seekers?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Vote Other

Men

Women

Aged 18-34

Aged 35-54

Aged 55+

Responsible

45%

26%

75%

14%

42%

50%

40%

30%

43%

64%

Fair

45%

25%

76%

10%

44%

48%

41%

29%

43%

66%

Too secretive

45%

69%

16%

75%

54%

44%

46%

50%

45%

40%

Just playing politics

45%

65%

20%

66%

56%

48%

41%

51%

45%

36%

Principled

43%

28%

69%

25%

29%

49%

36%

30%

45%

54%

Stubborn

42%

57%

24%

72%

44%

43%

41%

47%

39%

42%

Balanced

37%

20%

65%

13%

26%

42%

32%

23%

37%

54%

Unethical

33%

50%

10%

69%

37%

32%

35%

41%

32%

26%

Populist

31%

38%

23%

37%

37%

36%

25%

28%

33%

31%

Cruel

30%

46%

10%

64%

34%

29%

32%

39%

29%

23%

Too hard

29%

44%

10%

61%

32%

27%

31%

36%

28%

23%

Too soft

26%

22%

30%

12%

37%

29%

24%

19%

27%

34%

Respondents were more likely to describe the Government’s handling of the issue of asylum seekers as “responsible” and “fair” but also as “too secretive” and “just playing politics” (all 45%). 26% describe their handling of the issue as “too soft”, 29% as “too hard” and 30% as “cruel”.

Liberal/National voters were most likely to think the handling was “fair” (76%) and “responsible” (75%).

Labor voters were most likely to think the handling was “too secretive” (69%) and “just playing politics” (65%).

Greens voters were most likely to think the handling was “too secretive” (75%), “stubborn” (72%) and “unethical” (69%).

Of those aged under 35, only 23% thought the handling of the issue was “balanced” and 29% thought it was “fair”.

Q. Do you think the Federal Liberal/National Government is too tough or too soft on asylum seekers or is it taking the right approach?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Vote other

Oct 10

Jul 12

Jan 14

Mar 14

Too tough

27%

46%

5%

71%

21%

7%

12%

22%

25%

Too soft

18%

17%

20%

8%

24%

63%

60%

25%

28%

Taking the right approach

36%

19%

65%

7%

37%

18%

11%

35%

34%

Don’t know

18%

19%

9%

14%

17%

12%

17%

18%

13%

18% think the Government is too soft on asylum seekers, 27% think they are too tough and 36% think they are taking the right approach.

Since this question was last asked in March, those thinking the Government are too tough has increased slightly from 25% to 27% – while too soft has declined from 28% to 18%. Those unable to give an opinion has increased from 13% to 18%.

Those most likely to think they are taking the right approach were Liberal/National voters (65%) and aged 55+ (52%).

Q. The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Opposition leader Tony Abbott have both recently made statements about the handling of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat.

Do you think Kevin Rudd’s approach to handling asylum seekers is too harsh, too soft or about right?

Do you think Tony Abbott’s approach to handling asylum seekers is too harsh, too soft or about right?

Kevin Rudd

Tony Abbott

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Too harsh

20%

19%

18%

49%

21%

38%

5%

42%

Too soft

24%

12%

35%

13%

20%

21%

16%

21%

About right

40%

53%

33%

25%

31%

11%

61%

7%

Don’t know

16%

16%

14%

13%

27%

31%

18%

30%

40% of respondents think Kevin Rudd’s approach to handling asylum seekers is about right and 31% think Tony Abbott’s approach is about right. Views are similar for both approaches in terms of whether they are too soft or too harsh – about one in five selected each option.

Q. Which party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

17 Jun 13

Labor

25%

58%

4%

10%

13%

Liberal

26%

3%

57%

2%

38%

Greens

6%

5%

1%

44%

7%

None of them

28%

21%

25%

29%

31%

Don’t know

15%

13%

13%

15%

11%

26% (down 12% since June) think the Liberal Party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat and 25% (up 12%) think the Labor Party has the best policy. 28% think no party has the best policy.

58% (up 22%) of Labor voters think the Labor Party has the best policy compared with 57% (down 17%) of Liberal/National voters who think the Liberals have the best policy.

Of those who think the asylum seeker issue is one of or the most important election issue, 35% think that Labor has the best policy, 29% think the Liberals have the best policy and 17% think none of them do.

Q. Thinking about asylum seekers arriving in Australia, how important do you think each of the following features are for a good refugee processing system?

Very important

Important

Not very important

Not at all important

Don’t know

Total Important

Total Not Important

Stopping the boats

52%

22%

11%

8%

7%

74%

19%

Keeping costs down

47%

34%

11%

2%

6%

81%

13%

Protecting human rights

42%

38%

9%

5%

6%

80%

14%

Avoiding prolonged detention

35%

33%

13%

12%

8%

68%

25%

Making sure children have their claims processed in Australia

26%

32%

18%

13%

11%

58%

31%

Allowing Australian courts to review claims

22%

34%

16%

16%

12%

56%

32%

Approval from the United Nations

22%

32%

20%

16%

11%

54%

36%

Making sure asylum seekers are not returned to the countries they have fled

20%

29%

18%

20%

13%

49%

38%

Please note: ‘Total Important’ is an aggregate figure achieved by adding ‘Very Important’ and ‘Important’ together. ‘Total Not Important’ is an aggregate figure that has been achieved by adding ‘Not very important’ and ‘Not at all important’ together.

The most important feature of a ‘good refugee processing system’ is ‘keeping the costs down’, with 81% of respondents regarding this to be either very important or important, followed by ‘protecting human rights’ (80% total important).

Seventy four per cent (74%) of respondents believed that ‘stopping the boats’ is an important feature and 68% regard ‘avoiding prolonged detention’ to be an important feature.

Amongst the least important features of a good refugee processing system is ‘approval from the United Nations’, with only 54% regarding this to be important and 36% viewing it as not important.

Making sure asylum seekers are not returned to the countries they have fled was the least important attribute, with only 49% believing it to be important and 38% regarding it as not important.

Q. Thinking about the issue of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat – do you think they should be processed in Australia or should they be sent to another country for processing?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Process in Australia

36%

44%

27%

73%

Sent to another country

53%

44%

65%

15%

Don’t know

11%

12%

8%

12%

53% favour sending asylum seekers to another country for processing and 36% favour processing them in Australia. Liberal/National voters strongly favour sending them to another country (65%), Greens voters strongly favour processing them in Australia (73%) and Labor voters are split (44%/44%).

Q. The Government has proposed sending asylum seekers arriving by boat to Malaysia for processing and the Opposition has proposed sending asylum seekers to Nauru. Which of these two options do you favour?